


To The Waters and The Wild

by joidianne4eva



Category: The Losers (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-19
Updated: 2012-06-19
Packaged: 2017-11-08 02:47:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Truth be told there had always been something strange about Cougar and Jensen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To The Waters and The Wild

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cougars_catnip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cougars_catnip/gifts).



> For the prompt 'The Losers ~ Cougar, Did he really see a glow around Jensen's hands?' over on fic-promptly
> 
> Thanks to Cougars_catnip and el_gilliath for the read through and beta

The gentle dip of the bed pulled Cougar from his slumber, it helped that he hadn't been fully asleep to begin with. The cool air of the night brushed against his skin as the sheet was pulled down. Cracking an eye open he watched Jensen slip from beneath the covers, his movement slow and graceful in a way that Cougar had scarcely ever seen unless the hacker was on the battlefield. The glint of the moon streaming through the open window, of the cabin that they were staying in, glinted off Jensen's golden hair as the man stood and walked towards the door, footsteps leaving not even a whisper against the hardwood floor.

Ever since one of Aisha's friends had loaned them this place to regroup in, Jensen had been off...It was something the others wouldn't have noticed since it hadn't been obvious but Cougar had been trained to watch and he saw the way that Jensen would pause in mid thought, his eyes roaming to the window and the woods beyond them. The fragmented moments became even more frequent after Clay had ordered that they lay low.

The woods themselves were nothing special, it was large, yes, but the pine and oak trees that hid the cabin from view held no particularly captivating features, yet Cougar couldn't shake the crawling sensation that covered his skin every time he lingered on the porch for too long and he noticed that none of the others not even Aisha, with her seeming fearlessness, strayed too far from the safety of the cabin's walls.

Cougar waited until Jensen's shadow moved from the doorway before following his lover, sticking to the shadows despite Jensen’s, seeming, unawareness of his presence.

The blond paused in front of the door, one hand pressed to the wooden surface and his head bowed.

The night was quiet, not even the chirp of insects broke the blanket of suffocating silence as Cougar watched Jensen's still form. 

There was a heaviness in the air, the feeling of anticipation thrumming like a heartbeat as the seconds ticked past. 

The soft click seemed loud in the stillness of the room and Cougar's eyes widened as the metal knob twisted itself. Above it a sickly green glow surrounded Jensen's palm, shining softly even as the blond stepped back and some unseen force pushed against the wooden construct, sending it swinging on its hinges.

Jensen stepped through the door and Carlos followed quickly, determined to not lose sight of the hacker.

The grass beneath his feet was wet with pre-dawn dew and Cougar shivered as the night air teased his skin, robbing it of its warmth but Jensen seemed oblivious to the elements as he moved deeper into the forest's depths.

Cougar knew that he should call out, wake the man from whatever trance he'd fallen into but his lips would not obey his command, the thrum of some foreign energy beat beneath his skin as he trailed Jensen, weaving a web of seduction and submission around him.

The trees were thicker here, clustered close together and leaving only a narrow path that Jensen followed without hesitation.

Beyond the circle of trees a small clearing laid, its edges wreathed in dandelions that swayed in the pre-natural light that seemed to shimmer from within the barks of the trees themselves.

Jensen stepped forward, bare feet avoiding the circle of flowers as will-o'-the wisp danced about the clearing, flittering against the blond's skin before hurling themselves at the trees around them.

Jensen's skin shimmered where the spectral lights had touched him, the gold of his tan a stark contrast to the dark lines that crawled along his bare arms rising like a lover's caress along his neck before breaking off into delicate lines as they curved along his brow.

The hacker turned and Cougar inhaled sharply at the glowing eyes that met his, the glowing orbs teeming with more wisdom and sorrow than any one human was ever meant to experience but here in this place Jensen was so much more than human.

The lights returned, teasing at Jensen's hair and darting in and out of the strands as they lengthened, tumbling to brush against Jake's shoulders as the blond raised his eyes to the night sky.

The bushes around them rattled and Cougar watched with a sense of surreal detachment as groups of tiny dark skinned creatures peaked from the safety of their leafy barriers. 

From the dark of the shadows other creatures emerged, things with wings and horns, beings whose names had been lost at the beginning of time and Cougar tensed as something large brushed against him but his limbs remained locked, burdened down by the strange magic that held the night captive.

The creature snorted, the heat of its breath burning against Cougar's skin like sparks of a newly born fire before it stepped over him, its shadow eclipsing the night sky as it lumbered into the circle joining its brethren in the strange worship that seemed centred around Jensen’s ethereal form.

The green glow from before covered Jensen's frame as the dawn's light broke though the shadows. Jensen spread his arms as if to welcome it and Cougar held his breath in anticipation. 

The light hit Jensen's skin before refracting and colliding with each of the beings that lurked at the circle's edge and one by one they vanished, with not a sound nor a whimper, not even a blade of broken grass to mark their presence.

Cougar tensed as Jensen's eyes lowered to meet his, the strangle gleam bright in the dawn's light. The hacker held out his hand, the markings on them shifting like living creatures across his skin as his lips quirked into a knowing smile.

"Come away." he whispered the words part-plea and part-demand and Cougar was helpless to resist the call. Stepping forward, fingers brushing against Jensen's as the blond pulled him into the circle, the will-o'-the-wisp darting about like playful children as Jensen's arms wrapped around him.

The light on the blond's skin grew, blazing like the midday sun and Cougar closed his eyes as the intensity became more than he could bare, he was burning up, the world around them caught fire as the lights danced higher and higher and Cougar could feel a scream clawing at the back of his throat and then....he gasped awake.

The familiar wooden walls of the cabin seemed to mock him with their normalcy. Beside him Jensen shifted in his sleep, one arm reaching out to pull Cougar closer as he grumbled.

Carlos glanced around the room in bewilderment. It had seemed too real to have simply been a dream but here he was, exactly where he'd fallen asleep instead of in some twilight zone scenario that would have suited Jensen's mind more than his own.

Sighing he rolled his eyes at himself, glancing over at his lover as Jensen nuzzled deeper into his pillow before closing his eyes, determined to at least get a few more minutes before the other woke.

Outside the cabin's door a lone will-o'-the-wisp swayed slowly before darting off into the dark shadows of the trees.

*O*

The dreams continued, each night Cougar found himself following Jake out into the cold of the forest and each morning he woke in his bed, clothes soaked with sweat and the trace of something otherworldly lingering at the edge of his mind.

He'd left the cabin under the pretence of scouting the area and though he'd retraced his footsteps exactly, the clearing wasn't there, he found no ring of flowers or hidden alcove and every night that passed made him fear for his sanity, he couldn't break, he couldn't afford the pseudo-comfort that insanity would bring, not with Roque gone and Max on their trail.

The team had noticed that something was wrong, but Cougar wasn't sure if it was because of him or Jensen. 

The hacker was quiet, the endless babble of facts and trivia had been silenced leaving a wordless tune that seemed to ride Jensen's every waking breath, teasing Cougar with its familiarity even though he couldn't place where he'd heard the thing before.

Clay had been watching them; Cougar could feel the man's eyes boring into his skin as he and Jensen sat on the edge of the porch in silence watching the branches of the trees sway in the wind. He knew the man was worried but Cougar had no assurance to give him because whatever was happening scared him too.

*O*

"Hey Cougs," Jensen's voice was soft in the darkness of their room and Carlos slid lower on the bed so that they were facing each other, the faint outline of Jensen's form just visible in the dim light peaking from beneath the door. "Do you think we should be here?" the hacker asked.

"Que?" Cougar frowned in confusion.

Jensen exhaled, his fingers finding Cougar's and curling around them, the warmth of his skin grounding them both as he continued "It just doesn't feel right, this place and I'm not being picky, I swear to God, Cougs this isn't me being an ass it's just it doesn’t feel like they should be here..." Jake whispered, his voice heavy with something Cougar couldn't identify.

"They or us?" Carlos inquired.

"Them...Pooch, Clay and Aisha, it feels like they shouldn't be here."

Cougar was silent listening to the hacker’s breaths until they evened out in sleep, it hadn't sounded like Jensen needed an answer to his question and in truth Cougar didn't have an answer that he could give. Staring at the ceiling he sighed, mulling over the blond's words. Maybe he was losing his mind, or maybe he's already crossed the line into madness because Jensen's words had felt right, the others shouldn't be here at all, they hadn't been called...they weren't needed, not like Jensen was, not like he was.

*O*

Clay cornered them the next day, his eyes hard as he stared them down.

Jensen watched the man pace restlessly, his blue eyes sharp and gleaming with something predatory with each of the man's turns; beside him Cougar was as still as a statue his eyes glued to the wall beyond Aisha's head.

"Which one of you wants to tell me what the hell is going on, then?" Clay demanded.

Jensen's head cocked to the side, his hands spread wide "Nothing at all, boss."

Aisha huffed, crossing her arms as she glared at them "If you two are going to fuck around, I want to know if it’s going to mess with our plans to go after Max!" she spat, her eyes dark with anger and Jensen smirked leaning back in his chair, his fingers brushing against Cougar's as the man shifted forward.

"Your plan." the sniper shot back and Clay tensed turning to face them.

"What?"

At the side of the room Pooch watched the scene in silence.

Jensen shook his head, picking up where Cougar left off seamlessly "It’s your plan, Aisha, not ours, not Clay's yours. Just like it was your plan to come out here...”

"You weren’t invited..." Cougar whispered, dark eyes locked on the woman's face and Clay shivered as something cold skittered up his spine.

"You weren't wanted." Jensen added, his grin growing into something that resembled a snarl "This is not your place and we don't have to listen to a word you have to say."

The silence following the blond's words was only broken as the two stood, bodies move in synch as they turned and headed for the porch, closing the door softly behind them.

A cold wind rattled through the house as the three stunned people tried to process what the hell had just happened.

Cougar blinked in surprise as he sat beside Jensen on the stairs that lead to the porch...he couldn't remember why he was out here.

*O*  
That night the wind howled as it tore through the woods, sending fallen leaves spiralling in frenzy. The will-o'-the-wisps darted to and fro in a parody of play as they followed the unseen force.

Pooch woke as something clambered beneath his sheets, grubby fingers clutching at his skin, his gun was already in his hand before the lights in Clay's room flickered on and Aisha stumbled out brushing unseen insects from her hair.

The three said nothing as they lingered in the living room, too afraid and unsure to voice what they'd seen and felt.

In the last room a green light covered the sleeping men huddled beneath their covers as spectral lights danced outside their window and the forest cried out for her missing children.

*O*  
The next morning no one tried to speak to them, lost in their own thoughts as they wandered around the cabin, Jensen and Cougar took the silence for the reprieve it was retreating to the edge of the forest where they watched the shadows grow as the night drew closer.

*O*

"I've been having this dream." Jake whispered as they huddled close that night, Cougar's heartbeat still thrumming beneath his ear as the sweat from their lovemaking cooled. 

Cougar hummed in question.

"It's you and me, in the woods... and we’re happy, like we were before this whole Max thing" Jensen carried on "But we always come back. We don't want to but I think I know why."

Cougar was tense beneath him, "Why?" he asked

Jensen raised his head, blue eyes gleaming in the dark "You need to say 'yes' you can't come without saying yes and I can't leave you behind." he dropped his eyes "I won't leave you behind."

Cougar closed his eyes, exhaling slowly as he pulled Jensen down so that they were pressed together once more. Outside the woods were still as if the forest itself was awaiting Carlos' answer. 

Running his fingers through Jensen's hair Cougar sighed, because honestly there was no choice.

"I go where you go." he promised.

Deep in the woods something shrieked in triumph.

*O*

When Clay woke the door to the cabin was open and he knew before he looked that Jensen and Cougar were gone and like Roque they weren't coming back.

Pooch stood at the door to Jensen and Cougar’s room and stared at the endless sea of dandelions that adorned the bed. His mama had told him tales like these, of people stolen in the dead of night by the things that some called the Sidhe. She said they always returned for their own, their changelings, no matter how long they had to wait. And truth be told there had always been something strange about Cougar and Jensen.


End file.
